Eleanor Roosevelt to Charl Williams

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Eleanor Roosevelt to Charl Williams

24 August 1947 [Hyde Park]

Dear Charl Williams:

A friend of mine is working with the Citizens Committee on Displaced Persons and learned on a recent trip that the Parent-Teachers groups in the various states have done very little to support the legislation which we all want for these Displaced Persons.¹

The National Executive Committee of the PTA approved it by a resolution passed on June 5th.

I understand there must be ratification by thirty states, and to date Nebraska is the only state to ratify.²

Could you urge Mrs. Hughes to exert her influence on the state committees?³

Affectionately,

TLc AERP, FDRL

1. Dr. Charl Ormond Williams (1885–1969), a lifelong education lobbyist in Washington, held top positions in the National Education Association (NEA). An active Democrat, Williams worked closely with ER on party and policy issues, twice chairing White House conferences. Founded in December 1946, the Citizens Committee on Displaced Persons (CCDP) lobbied Congress and the public on behalf of legislation allowing European refugees to come to the United States. ER was one of the group's vice-chairs. For more on the CCDP and its efforts to pass the Stratton bill, see n2 Document 244. For more on the status of the Stratton bill, see n3 Document 244 ("Dr. Charl Williams, Education Crusader," WP, 15 January 1969, 47).

2. ER's information on both the national executive committee and the ratification process came from a handwritten note at the bottom of Anna H. Clark's August 18, 1947, letter (written on CCDP letterhead) to Elizabeth Gardiner (CCDP folder, AERP).

3. Mrs. L. S. Hughes was president of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers (NCPT). In a letter dated August 27, 1947, Williams told ER that she had written letters to Hughes and Mrs. Stanley G Cook, NCPT chairman of legislation. On the same date Williams also wrote a group letter to NCPT staff members Ruth Bottomly, Eva Grant, and Mary Ferre, enclosing ER's letter and asking them to "write me if you think anything can be done to help Mrs. Roosevelt in her desires to help these unfortunate people." She then sent a similar appeal to Elinor Pillsbury, a reporter at the Oregon Journal in Portland, Oregon, saying "I do not know whether or not there is anything you can do as a newspaper woman. You might perhaps get in touch with the state president of the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers as well as with Mrs. Kletzer [a former NCPT national president] … Anything you can do in any avenue I shall deeply appreciate" (Charl Williams to ER, 27 August 1947; Charl Williams to Ruth Bottomly, Eva Grant, and Mary Ferre, 27 August 1947; Charl Williams to Elinor Pillsbury, 27 August 1947, AERP).